AVIA lasers are utilized extensively within both crystalline-silicon and thin-film
solar cell production lines worldwide, and are the undisputed leader in UV laser-based
silicon cell Edge Isolation with greater than 90% market share. AVIA lasers
also feature prominently within new production lines for next-generation high-efficiency
silicon cell concepts. Applications here include scribing trenches for buried
or recessed contact-fingers, selectively ablating dielectric passivation layers
for electroless metallization, and drilling Through-Silicon-Vias for Wrap-Through
cells.

Finlay Colville, Director of Solar Marketing, outlines factors behind this
success: “The AVIA was prime for 24/7 production long before the solar
industry burst into life, having been industrially-qualified for analogous laser
processes within the semiconductor and displays sectors. Very quickly, the AVIA
laser became the de facto industry standard for laser Edge Isolation and other
front-contact processes, in addition to patterning of Zinc-Oxide transparent
conductive layers deposited during ‘P1’ manufacturing of amorphous-silicon
thin-film panels.”

With such a large install-base of AVIA lasers within the solar industry, incremental
improvements to AVIA lasers are now strongly influenced by roadmap requests
from solar manufacturers. A point captured by Mark Mondry, Product Line Manager
for the AVIA: “With solar cell capacities increasing year-on-year, the
power levels for 355 and 532 nm AVIA lasers have kept pace with these production
line demands. Last year, UV and green power levels were increased to 28 and
45W, respectively. Also, a low-power 23W AVIA-532 version was released for high-throughput
a:Si thin-film patterning.”

All AVIA models are Diode-Pumped Solid State (or DPSS) lasers, which operate
off single-phase electricity and require no external consumables. Featuring
a wealth of software-controlled pulsing options, AVIA lasers are designed as
industrial field-integrated lasers for production, and are comprised of highly
reliable components with lifetimes of tens of thousands of hours.

Founded in 1966, Coherent, Inc. is a Russell 2000 Index company and a world
leader in providing laser-based solutions to the commercial and scientific research
markets. Please direct any questions regarding content found in this release
to Finlay Colville, Director of Solar Marketing, at + 44 7802 238 775 or finlay.colville@coherent.com.
For more information about Coherent's role in the solar industry, please visit
our website at www.Coherent.com/Solar.